Necessary Shakespeare, The (2nd Edition)
Worth buying if: You need the plays and a representative set of sonnets from a single Addison-Wesley volume.
Skip it if: You require exhaustive textual commentary, variant quartos, or heavy academic apparatus.
Exact edition: Edition shown · ISBN-13 9780321272508. The Amazon link uses this ISBN, so the product page should open to the edition shown here.
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Summary
This 2nd edition of Necessary Shakespeare edits and arranges the core plays, sonnets, and select extracts across 1,136 pages, prioritizing readable texts useful for readers, students, and performers while keeping scholarly fidelity.
Why this book now
The 2004 second edition reconsolidates indispensable Shakespeare texts into one volume for classroom use, rehearsal rooms, and compact home libraries.
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Best for readers who...
Good fit if you want...
- You need the plays and a representative set of sonnets from a single Addison-Wesley volume.
- You stage or teach scenes and want performance-ready lineation and concise editing.
- When you want a vivid sense of place, the book refuses melodrama, instead tending to emotional truth in quiet, unsentimental scenes.
- You require exhaustive textual commentary, variant quartos, or heavy academic apparatus.
- You want a modernized, heavily annotated critical edition with long scholarly essays.
- When you dislike opaque narrators, description is rich and frequent, which may feel excessive if you like sparseness.
Decided it fits?
Exact edition: Edition shown · ISBN-13 9780321272508
Worth buying if: You need the plays and a representative set of sonnets from a single Addison-Wesley volume.
Skip it if: You require exhaustive textual commentary, variant quartos, or heavy academic apparatus.
Check Amazon for the current price and availability of this exact edition.
Reader guide
Cues to help you decide faster.
Reading commitment
Substantial Longer sessions help
At 1,136 pages, expect a sustained commitment: read individual plays and sonnets in modular sessions rather than front-to-back marathon reading.
What stands out here
This edition emphasizes a curated, readable core—select plays and sonnets edited for clarity and stage use rather than exhaustive textual apparatus.
Best way to approach it
Approach it as a reference and rehearsal companion: jump to individual plays, study speeches aloud, and use the sonnet cluster for close, episodic reading.
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Exact edition: ISBN-13 9780321272508
Check Amazon for the current price and availability of this exact edition.